110. The Merry Old Soul (1935)

Release date: August 17th, 1935

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Friz Freleng

Starring: Berneice Hansell (Babies, Woman in the Shoe), Allan Watson (Old King Cole), The Rhythmettes (Singers), The Varsity Three (Fiddlers)

Another cartoon that feels reminiscent of the Harman-Ising days, Old King Cole marries the old lady in the shoe. Unfortunately for him, his marriage brings many surprises—surprises in the shape of children.

Church bells are ringing as we open to a lovely shot of a church, harmonious voicing underscoring the scene. A group of squires are singing “The Merry Old Soul”, the shortest squire holding a bow that stretches out and plays all three violins at once. Little Bo Peep and her sheep (vocals provided by Berneice Hansell) also lend their voices to the song, as do Humpty Dumpty, the dish and the spoon. Catchy and amusing as always.

Out strolls Old King Cole and his wife, the woman in the shoe. They’re greeted extravagantly and warmly as the congregation around them cheers. Old King Cole opens the carriage door for his wife, who steps in gingerly. An amusing gag as the king shakes his fist in the glory—the glory ceases immediately once the king is alone, and he receives a shower of shoes to the face, accompanied by laughter. Old King Cole plucks a pair of shoes from the ground and keeps them for himself as he seeks refuge in the carriage.

Pan out to reveal the carriage as a car/horse hybrid, horse’s legs and head sticking out from the motor. The happy newlyweds arrive at their house, a giant shoe (the song did introduce the wife as the woman in the shoe). Once inside, Old King Cole puckers up for a kiss, his wife giggling bashfully.

Before things get too PG-13, an ironing board flops open between them, a baby right on top, exclaiming “Daddy!” The newlyweds are stunned as more babies pop out in various crannies of the house, each exclaiming “Daddy!” The stove, some teapots, a clock... the army of babies swarm towards Old King Cole, showering him in a chorus of “Daddy!”s. Old King Cole seldom finds relief, as babies pour out of the closet he attempts to hide in. Fade out as he has to accept his newfound responsibility.

A nice setup of the three squires singing “The Merry Old Soul” right outside the window of Old King Cole, much to his chagrin. He’s bent over the wash tub, scowling as he works his hands in and out of the suds (not unlike an overworked, marriage-regretting, father Porky in a similar scenario in Porky’s Romance). Slamming the window shut and drawing the blinds shuts the squires up efficiently.

In an ode to Shuffle Off to Buffalo, we discover the man is actually laboriously scrubbing his children. A long, rather drawn out baby cleaning/swaddling scene ensues, lacking pep and energy.

The babies are sent down the line, a showerhead spraying off the soap. A spinning brush dries off the baby, as does a windshield wiper for good measure. More spinning brushes are inserted into the babies’ ears, each baby wincing along the way. Old King Cole deposits each child into a towel roller, rolling them dry. The children are then flipped onto their backs as Old King Cole powders baby powder onto them. One by one, the babies are tied to balloons, which float them over to a changing table. Old King Cole swaddles them in paper towels, stapling the makeshift diapers shut (a nod to the unsafe practices in Shuffle Off to Buffalo). Finally, each baby is deposited into a onesie, where they’re deposited into their cradles via clothesline.

Overall, the gag is much too long for any novelty to sink in. It’s a rehash of Shuffle Off to Buffalo—which, essentially, Baby Bottleneck is, too. What works for Baby Bottleneck is that the cuteness factor is very much a parody in itself, and the scenes are funny and humorous. Porky and Daffy scrambling to take care of all the babies is even funnier. Here, it’s all cute and no funny. The babies aren’t entirely cute to begin with, not ugly, but nothing that makes me say "Aww, how cute!" The animation isn’t bad at all, but it just goes on for so long, the gags are overshadowed by wondering when the sequence will end.

Exhausted, Old King Cole wipes his brow as he trudges away. Finally, a hard day ends once more.

Or so he thinks. We fade in to Old King Cole singing a lullaby as he pedals away at a sewing machine. The machine is rigged to three cradles, labeled “Meeni”, “Minie”, and “Moe”, a pump of the pedal rocking each cradle. Once he’s certain the babies are asleep for good, Old King Cole creeps away silently. Of course, the babies wake up and cry, and Old King Cole is back to pumping the pedal and singing a rushed chorus of Rock-a-bye Baby.

Old King Cole manages to sink into an armchair and get some sleep himself. Two babies, named Nip and Tuck (another future parallel to Baby Bottleneck—“Pig and Duck Nip and Tuck Delivery Service”) sneak out of their cradles and conspire to cause mischief, as all babies do.

Nip and Tuck sneak over to the sewing machine, each pumping the pedal furiously. All of the babies in their cradles are launched out of them and hop around, right into Old King Cole’s lap, making for a rude awakening. All of the babies cry and scream, and thus initiates a closeup of Old King Cole, who also starts to wail in the style of Stan Laurel. Iris out.

The ending to this cartoon reminds me of the ending to Good Night Elmer, a near silent short as we watch Elmer fight to extinguish a candle for 7 minutes straight. Dawn comes and he, too, cries into the camera like a baby. Both cartoons end with the protagonist wailing after engaging in a menial, long, drawn out task. The strange thing is, I don’t really find this cartoon bad, but I wouldn’t recommend it. In fact, I find it above average for its time. The quality of Friz’s shorts are definitely picking up after the dud year that was 1934. This was a happy, bright cartoon, the title song amusing and fun. The baby conveyer belt sequence was much too drawn out for any novelty to take effect, but it wasn’t terrible. Old King Cole was likable and easy to sympathize with—the gag where he gets a pile of shoes thrown at him at the beginning of the cartoon is great. This is a decent short, but there isn’t really anything pushing me to persuade you to watch it. But by all means, the link is right there.

Link!